PUBLIC launches with Design Ride Manhattan

June 12th, 2010

“You meet the nicest people on a PUBLIC.”

You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda

That line is a rip off of a famous Honda ad slogan used when they introduced their cute 50cc motorcycle to the US in 1959. We launched PUBLIC last month in a more modest way in New York, but the event did bring out a lot of the “nicest people”. We had a happy group of 100 people riding from the ICFF Javits Center to the Tretorn store in SOHO. It was a great party. The weather was perfect, and we had a blast. This note is just a belated thank you to the fans that joined us and a promise to feature more photos and a video soon.

We had a wide range of people including Dutch designer Ghislaine Vinas (on an “Dutch” orange M3) and her cute Mom riding a classic Dutch Sparta. Other bloggers included Sam Grawe from Dwell and Vanessa Marie Robinson from For the Love of Bikes. It was a perfect NY afternoon and something of a love fest that might even warm the heart of a cynical New Yorker. You only get to launch a company once, and we feel flattered by the “nicest” people who turned up. Lloyd Alter at Treehugger summed it up pretty well:

“On the bike trail next to the West Side Highway we were passed by many on far fancier, more expensive bikes, with riders wearing colourful lycra and clip-in shoes. I thought that they were a lot faster, but we were having a lot more fun.”

There was one major complaint: “The ride should have lasted longer.” We covered three miles and cruised at a leisurely pace and the whole ride lasted less than 30 minutes. Ok, next year we will be back with a feistier ride and hopefully even more nice people.

Personal thanks to a few people who showed up and pitched in at the last minute: Khairi & Co, James Victore, Sunny, Marie, Hope, Lauren, Leslie, Larry, and the anonymous guy from Queens who joined up with us to help guide the ride.

Best,

Rob & Dan

PS. The Good News and Bad News about Orange.

You will see a lot of orange in the PUBLIC bike in Design Ride Manhattan. This is good. But we have already sold out of this color in several sizes, and we won’t have it back in stock until October. If you want a PUBLIC this summer, this would be the best time to order.